Priorities: Sort Them Out

At least once in a lifetime or may be more than once, many of us ask this question, either to themselves or to others, What are we supposed to do in our life? Seldom do people bother to answer this question themselves. It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s simply because if they do then they will come to know the so called Bitter Truth. And very rarely people do accept that fact or actuality; not because it’s difficult but on account of the fact that they don’t have courage to accept the truth.

Every single living entity has priorities in their life and it is these priorities which propel their life on a particular track; it may be or may not be the right one, depends upon the individual. But how can we define Priorities? What are our priorities? Are they the right ones? Are we giving them the prior attention which they are supposed to get? Are we dealing with those in the order we are supposed to?

If we spend a few minutes of a day just to think what we are doing, why we are doing, how we are doing and most importantly are these the things we are supposed to do, then we might be able to figure out what exactly our priorities are and whether we are giving them the attention which is required. Whatever time we spend doing things on an average day decides what our priorities are and this doesn’t mean that those are the right one. Because may be we are spending time every single day on some futile activity which is of no use neither to us nor to the people whom we care about. Then why do we engage ourselves in that line, is it because of our ignorance or is it the habit which we have formed?

I will try to express this in greater detail by quoting an example of a student: Let us assume there is a student who goes to school/college every day. After he comes back what is he supposed to do? According to me he should relax for some time and then go through the contents of whatever he studied in school that day. Once he is done with that he should engage himself in an activity outside his regular occupation and after that may be a little bit of self study to stay in touch with all whatever he has learned so far. This is how he should prioritize the things because for him it is the studies which need prominence. Similarly each and every individual has a specific set of tasks which has to be given the much needed attention as per their significance. If for example, a person who gets up early in the morning and goes for work, is doing it just because he has to but not because he likes to do it; in that case it’s the time when he should think about the priorities in his life.

Most of us simply go through the motions, without even having a slightest idea of what we are doing, is it what we are supposed to and whether those acts which we carry out have any meaning associated to them. And this is one of the reasons why most of us do not achieve the goals which we are supposed to even though we are capable of achieving it. It’s just a matter of spending few minutes daily to analyze what are the things which we need to do in order to safe guard our own future. When we get an answer to this, then we can prioritize those things and only then we will be able to find the right way of achieve those goals.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen R. Covey